When a bored president 'mails it in'

By
Wesley Pruden

JewishWorldReview.com |
Like it or not, the world is a dangerous place, and getting more so. None of the portents look good. Vladimir Putin not so subtly says, in ever louder voice, that he's in charge of events now. The rest of the world should just get used to it. When Vlad roars, the rest of the world squeaks.

He was in louder voice than ever Thursday, reminding a televised forum in Moscow that his parliament has authorized him to use force "if necessary" in eastern Ukraine, which he called, for the first time, "New Russia."

Whether portent or not, leaflets were distributed at synagogues in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk ordering Jews over 16 to register with the Commissioner for Nationalities and pay a $50 registration fee by May 3. A leaflet is an unusual and unlikely medium to announce such a bold government decree, and it was not clear where the leaflets were authorized, and by whom. But there they definitely were, enough to chill to the bone anyone who has ever read a history book. The more some things change the more they remain as they ever were.

The roar of the master of the new Russia and the squeak of the mice in the West mocks the brave talk from Barack Obama and his men. But the grim Russian and the rest of the world have his number, just when bold and imaginative leadership in the West has vanished.

"Whatever one may think of Putin's moral posture, which is deplorable," says Paul Johnson, the eminent British historian, "he is regarded as strong, decisive and vigorous, pushing Russia's interests at all times, with considerable success. In contrast, Obama is written off as weak and irresolute, with no clear short- or long-term aims. He gets high marks for rhetoric but scores zero for action. In short, he's a windbag."

Tough stuff, and right on the mark. President Obama is what the ranchers on the plains call "all hat and no cattle." Mr. Putin continues to play him like a cheap guitar (or maybe a zither), and the president continues on his merry way, off nearly every day to raise money to elect Democrats who will applaud as he dismantles American arms, strangles the domestic economy with a growing tangle of red tape, and fritters away American influence.

John Kerry, the secretary of state, met his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts and the high commissioner of the European Union Thursday in Geneva, and they all agreed to strongly condemn "and reject" all expressions of "extremism, racism and religious intolerance, including anti-Semitism." That's nice, but nobody half-awake thinks it means very much. Mr. Putin no doubt agrees that seizing someone else's country is not nice, either, but he's not giving anything back.

The mischief in Ukraine is making everybody in eastern Europe nervous, and why wouldn't it? The Polish defense minister, visiting the Pentagon on Thursday, said the "destabilization" of Ukraine reminds the Polish people that they can only defend themselves against the Russians by sticking close to NATO, the United States, and their own army.

"The events of the recent months and the aggressive policy taken by Russia made Poles realize that things must not be taken for granted . . . we are making a significant effort to modernize our armed forces."

Chuck Hagel, the secretary of defense, made the usual noises echoing President Windbag, citing the NATO charter that "Article 5 is clear than an act of aggression against one member of NATO is an attack on all members." Speechifying like this naturally evokes the aroma of gunpowder and portents of the disaster that nobody wants. This grim moment in time is not World War III, but it's nevertheless serious, and could have been avoided if the leader of the free world, the role Mr. Obama asked for twice but clearly doesn't want and doesn't know how to play, had learned to lead from the front instead of his preference for "leading from behind."

(He may think he's Ginger Rogers, but he's not.)

He doesn't understand the Putin threat any more than he understands the threat from the Islamic Middle East.

Leadership is hard. Playing at leadership is easy. Confronting an aspiring tyrant like Vladimir Putin is hard. Devoting presidential attention to raising campaign money, working on his putting and making sure women get all the condoms and abortions they want is easy.

And that makes it easy for Vladimir Putin to rearrange the power settings in a world ripe for domination.